Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Take responsibility

Character is how you behave when you screw up.

Do you admit it was you who was responsible or do you look for someone or circumstances to pass on the blame to?

I have found that taking responsibility of the consequences of your actions or inactions is probably the single biggest contributor to promoting you from person to leader.

Life is about making choices – sometimes we don’t make the right choices. It turns out we could have done or selected better. Acted more prudently or not acted at all. What will differentiate you from others is how you act or react to criticism when you messed it up.

There will be many occasions where you will have to decide to take on a tough assignment, which will call strain your energy time. When you will see others go back home and probably be watching a match on the tele while you are in office. When you look around and see only yourself working at middle of the night. Take these opportunities and deliver to your best.

Never shirk responsibility. You will never look back to regret it.

There is a old verse in hindi – “Girte hain sheh savar he maidane jung mein, woh murda dil kya khaak girega jo gutnon ke bal chale”

“It is only the brave-heart riders who fall in the battlefield, what will the weak hearted coward fall who crawls on his knees”

Friday, February 08, 2008

Best Practices - Shared Vision

How employees’ participation in organization vision increases organization competitiveness.

The first qualifier for this is to have a vision in place - a vision that clearly articulates what the organization for, why the organization exists and measurable outcomes.
Cascading of vision is critical.

Each employee should identify with organization's goals and identify their contribution to that goal.

Align the organization - Cascade goals and objectives right down to the bottom most strata of the organization; right from the fresher who has joined today to the 6 year veteran ( yes, in today’s context six years in one company qualifies you to be a veteran:)

Each employee should know what the organization stands for, what it will be in the future.

Each employee should be aware and proud of the organization’s contribution to make the world a better more efficient place.

They should identify with quantifiable and measurable impact on society.

Communicate continuously.
Cross check message for consistency across all channels and communicators.

Reinforce through examples – highlight examples where individual or group actions contributed towards achievement of the vision.

Believe in the vision yourself as a leader – never ever, even jokingly, show a disbelief in the vision, or a lack of belief that the organization might not be able to achieve the vision.